Poor Indian boys headed to Man United dream big

AFP, KOLKATA, India

Tue, Mar 18, 2014 - Page 18

Two poor Indian teenagers, one the son of a sex worker and the other of a street vendor, are among 11 young players who have been chosen to take part in a Manchester United Football Club training camp.

Rajib Boy, whose mother earns 200 rupees (US$3) a day, said he was dreaming big after being selected to travel to Britain next month for the Manchester United Soccer School after a talent hunt.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is my idol. I am focusing on scoring goals,” Rajib said in Sonagachi, the red-light district in India’s eastern city of Kolkata, where he lives with his mother in a one-room home in a decrepit building.

Often derided because of his mother’s profession, the 16-year-old said he was too focused on training hard at his Kolkata school to care what others thought.

“I am not ashamed of being a sex worker’s son. She is my main source of inspiration, [but] I want to take her out of the red light district as early as possible,” Rajib told reporters.

“Every day I am visiting a temple of [Hindu god] Lord Shiva to pray for my son’s success,” his mother said.

Rajib was one of 11 teenagers chosen last month to take part in the one-off training camp, following a nationwide talent hunt for trials held by club coaches in the seaside state of Goa in the cricket-mad country.

Arka Dey, 16, said he was looking forward to the chance of fulfilling his father’s wishes after he died from cancer three years ago.

“My father was a fan of Brazilian star Pele. He was my first coach,” Arka said.

“I still can’t believe that I have been selected,” said Arka, who helps his mother run a roadside snack stall.

“If I score a goal for one team, I am hired to play for another team and I earn a little money,” he said. “One of my neighbors has promised me to buy me a nice kit and good pair of shoes before I leave.”

After she heard the news, his mother, Suchanda, said she walked 5km to a temple to offer prayers.

Although India is best-known for its devotion to cricket, English soccer’s globally popular Premier League has started to make inroads there in recent years, with Liverpool having set up an International Academy in the western city of Pune.